2023-07-07 20:39:33
The controlling company announced July 18 as the estimated date; although they clarify that if they can do it before, they will. Complicated businessmen because the main winter pole is not yet operational. “It’s disappointing,” they say. Meanwhile, the holidays are already in full swing.
“The opening of the #CentroDeMontañaPillán It is still under evaluation, it all depends on the weather conditions. We expect to open approximately July 18 or before that date. We will be communicating all the news ”.
The message posted on the social networks of the Pillán Mountain Center fell almost literally, like a “bucket of cold water” on the businessmen of the tourism industry, who have several chips bet on the attractiveness of the winter tourist pole in the winter season. But so far none of that has happened. The lack of snow and the structural problems of the route —by the slopes of the Villarrica volcano— that reaches Pillán, which is in a very poor state. For the same reason, the opening announcement had to be postponed; Meanwhile, the winter holidays are already in full swing.
According to the president of the Chamber of Tourism of Pucón, Julio Pablaza, the non-functioning of the mountain center is a “great inconvenience” for the operation of the destination in this winter high season. “That the mountain center is not working becomes a great inconvenience, since it remains one of the main activities that we can offer our tourists at this time,” says Pablaza, who adds: “The above, added to a road that is in a deplorable state, truly brings with it a reduction in everything that has to do with the options that our clients have.”
Pablaza maintains that there are clients who choose neighboring ski resorts and others directly choose to cross the mountain range to Argentina: “After all the effort we make to bring tourists and tempt them with all our options and alternatives; that the main attraction that is the Pillán Mountain Center is not workingIt causes big problems.”
Patricia Muñoz, neighborhood and union leader of the recently launched Route to the Volcano, also exposes how complex it is to have the mountain center closed. “It causes discontent for the visitor, especially for people who come from abroad because they come with the idea that the ski center is working. Last year we had the same theme and there was a lot of snow”, explains Patricia Muñoz.
Regarding the road (in the main image you can see something of its current state), the leader maintains that it is key to solve the issue and even more so that the road is fixed: “When the other concessionaire (Enjoy) was operating, they hired an external company and helped maintain the road from the mountain to Conaf and the municipality did it from Conaf to the mountain. And this year you can’t see that, since the municipality and the highway are taking charge”.
Another complicated businessman is Pablo Jiménez, director of Snowpark Pucón, who says he feels “disappointed” by what is happening. “We are a little disappointed in the way Andacor (controlling company) acts. Despite not having a significant amount of snow, we all feel and know that the operation of the mountain center might be possible in some way. Perhaps inhabit the ride chairlifts, open the restaurant and even enable one or another track, ”he says and adds: “I think that all of Pucón, all the unions, businessmen and the general public had much higher expectations of the new mountain center. The tourists have left very disappointed”.
The problem with the road lies, specifically, in the 5.6 kilometers that are without asphalt until the first cableway (Juncalillo). Of these, the efforts of the municipality made it possible to assign a code (make it public) to the road that, in fact, was private. With this, Vialidad is already in a position to work on the route. The other 1.6 kilometers to Juncalillo are in no man’s land, since they have not yet been deprivatized and give it a rank of public thoroughfare. For the same reason, it is the municipality that will take charge.
According to the mayor Carlos Barra, they are already working on the road, although due to the climatic conditions of the date; the work —at least for this year— it will not leave the route in optimal conditions. “When they (Andacor) put out a tender for that mountain center, they knew in advance the conditions that that road had. And the commitment of the municipality was that by winning the tender, we were going to get the Ministry of Public Works to give us a code and enroll the access road from CONAF to Juncalillo. And with many meetings and negotiations, we managed to get Vialidad to assign a code to the first four kilometers”, explains Mayor Carlos Barra in the context of an interview he gave to LVP (which will be published in its entirety on Monday, July 10).
When asked if the road, on the opening day of Pillán, will be “adequate” for the requirement, Barra emphasizes: “Semi-adequate because you have to be honest. We are in winter, because if they ask me the same question in November or December, I will say that we will have an impeccable path as we do every summer; but now with the rains and snow, how am I going to commit myself to something that is not going to make money? But we are working with Roads, with machines, trucks and making every effort to get through the winter season in the best way”.
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